Gym

KG7571

Looking to join a gym ideally in the city can anyone recommend places with prices?

etoughguy

As far as I know there's a sticky on gyms in the fitness forum

Loads of gyms around the place now, what type of gym ya after, heavy lifting, gym with loads of thread mills, cross fit etc?

Dannyboy83

No supergyms in Cork yet unfortunately, more of a cottage industry, so it's specific to what you need.

The 3 metrics I use are:

1. Weights
2. Cardio
3. Balance of both (and least hassle)

So the 3 main gyms in the city that I would recommend:
Iron Mecca - 55 per month (Winner of the weights category)
Mardyke - 43 per month Gym only (Winner of the cardio category)
FitnessWorx - 30 per month off peak (Winner of the balance, least hassle category)

Iron Mecca in Blackpool -
Cons:

• traffic,
• earlyish closing hours at weekends
• limited cardio

Mardyke at UCC - cardio equipment is streets ahead of anyone else
Cons:

• membership vastly exceeds capacity during peak hours
• Opens 7am instead of 6am - late for a gym ( but the later opening hours balances it out)
• traffic,
• lack of parking during peak hours or even weekends,
• serious lack of lockers at peak times,
• quite limited selection of weights equipment for a university gym (no hack squat, no leverage squat, no smith machine, no seated or standing calf press )
• the actual weights gym is a very small area for the amount of members (they have a team gym but it's not open to the public),
• very frequently overcrowded during student year, not unusual to queue for showers
• toilets are repulsive during the student year,
• They have loads of unused extra capacity - extra changing rooms and overflow gyms, but they're rarely open.
  

Basically, it's great if you can train there outside peak hours, otherwise forget it (and you will have to train your legs somewhere else)


Fitnessworx is the best overall gym in Cork City in terms of most accessible, best price, least hassle (traffic,parking, lockers) and most friendly staff. Decent opening hours. And plenty of free weights equipment.

The only Con: limited range of equipment, they have no stepper and they got rid of their leverage squat machine. They have no hack squat or plate loaded leg press or smith machine.
Only for that Fitnessworx would be the closest thing Cork has to to a one-fits all.


There are plenty of alternatives to look at in the city, but they're also-rans in a given metric (e.g. Dennehys Douglas has inferior cardio to the Mardyke and inferior weights to Iron Mecca, and more hassle than Fitnessworx, but they have 3 gyms - Douglas, Ballincollig and Blackpool and you can train at any of them once you are a member of any)

Same goes for Energy in Mahon or most other places around.

Whoever opens a supergym in Cork like they have in Dublin will fkkking clean up. If it ever happens.

etoughguy

"FitnessWorx - 30 per month off peak (Winner of the balance, least hassle category)"

They have a super off peak which I use which is only 200 a year, been a member for years has everything you need